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Monday, October 28, 2013

From the great states of Tennessee and Georgia comes a new law to combat DUI, CID and EI-EI-O. It's called the "No Refusal" blood test. You see, your driving down a street when you come to a police checkpoint. An officer peers through your window to determine if there is cause to think your operating your vehicle under the influences. If he determines that you are one of the 5% of those who have nothing to hide, like let's say your brother is a cop in the same jurisdiction, he will let you go. If not you will be asked to pull into a parking lot. Once there you will be ordered out of your car by several officers dressed in combat uniforms and ordered to commit to series of sobriety tests including moonwalking a la Michael Jackson, rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time and doing hand over hand cartwheels. During these tests if you should so much as grunt, slip or wince, one or a dozen of the helmeted brigade surrounding you will snatch you up and drag you over to a medical shack converted from an old Porto-John and stick a needle in your arm and forcibly take blood from you.
That's right they will stick a needle in your arm and draw your blood whether you like it or not. You can't refuse like with a breathalyzer and say have your license suspended! No! You will be strapped down while an official uses a needle to extract the very blood from your body.
I wonder: Why is it that the people of this country are not up in arms about this bullshit?
Why are people not screaming bloody murder about this flagrant violation of civil rights and common decency? Because the American people have no balls, that's why! They walk around under the delusion of "as long as it's not happening to me, I'll just ignore it". Yeah, ignore it until there's some fat, frustrated cop sitting on your chest while one of his equally fat and lonely brethren twists your arm at some ungodly angle and sticks a needle in your vein. Hopefully he'll get it on the first stick and not the ninth or tenth.
Damn Americans, what a bunch of pussies to let stuff like this happen without sparking a single yelp of outrage! You all should be ashamed. Land of the Free and Home of the Brave? Not now!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

It's surprising how little news regarding the ongoing financial dilemma afflicting many member-countries of the European Union. Just months ago it appeared that Europe and its continent-wide Union was coming apart at the seams. Riots where taking place in Ireland, Italy and especially Greece where the country's demise was being predicted by anyone who could hold a mic or pummel a computer keyboard. But what now? Have the EU's troubles been overshadowed by recent events perpetrated by the imbeciles that make up the United States government? Have austerity measures, beyond all odds worked leading Europe into a new era of prosperity that has brought a feeling of quiet contentment to the Union's suffering people? Not on your life!
What is occurring right now throughout many countries in the EU is a collective sense of despair brought on by an extended period of economic downturn leading to widespread joblessness, food scarcity and a descent into poverty that has caused a depressive paralysis as real and as crippling as any physical kind.
People of the continent have been beaten down to the point that they don't have the strength anymore to stand and protest. They have struggled under the yoke of these celebrated austerity measures for years now with no end to the turmoil in sight. They have been beaten down like dogs by a bunch of bureaucrats who will never know the feeling of watching their children go to bed hungry or sitting by while a loved one unnecessarily dies from lack of the most basic medical services those living in Third World countries take for granted. Gone is the European pride so characteristic of its people of years gone by.
But I have a warning for the leaders of the European Union. The people of Europe will soon get to that point where hopelessness will become their second nature, when life will be hard to differentiate death, when, in a word, these muted souls will awake and stand and begin to come to the realization that they have nothing to lose. And as everyone knows there is no one more dangerous than someone who has nothing to lose. Now multiply that by 100 million and you'll get the frightening picture

Mystery surrounds the identity a a young child found in Greece.Police discovered the child during a raid searching for drugs. The blue-eyed, blond headed girl immediately aroused police suspicions as she stuck out like a sore thumb among the dark haired, dark eyed couple who called themselves her parents. Police investigations turned up that the supposed mother of the child had claimed to be the mother of 14 children, 10 of whom are unaccounted for. She had also made several claims to other children to authorities in that past that when added up would account for her giving birth to 6 children in less than 10 months. DNA testing showed no biological link between the girl and the couple.
The case has fueled concerns about child trafficking in the region. It is also stoking fears of a backlash by the Greek people against the country's Roma population, a people viewed suspiciously as nothing more than thieves and cutthroats by Greek society.
If you recognize this child please contact Interpol or the charity A Child's Smile located in Greece.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

The Hajj has ended and now millions of observant Muslims will return to their homes all around the world after making the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Of concern right now is the possibility that some may have contracted the ultra-deadly MERS-CoV virus which has been striking down people within Saudi Arabia since 2012. This disease is new on the medical horizon, never before seen in humans much like the SARS virus that rampaged through China a decade ago infecting over 8000 people killing over 700. MERS-CoV presents even more of a concerning picture due the facts that it's mortality rate is 3-4 times that of SARS and that the incubation period, the time between becoming infected and showing symptoms, could be as long as 2 weeks. This constitutes a serious problem, especially as it concerns the Hajj in that those that are infected could return to their countries and appear perfectly normal thus escaping detection by border personnel on the lookout for anyone exhibiting symptoms of cough, fever and other signs of illness. The next 1-2 weeks will be critical in terms of the potential for a world wide pandemic occurring. Surveillance measures are currently in place in many countries on the lookout for clusters of people coming down with severe flu-like illnesses. Again, the next few weeks will be critical in terms of a world wide pandemic caused by the MERS-CoV virus. With a 40% mortality rate such a pandemic could rival the Great Pandemic of 1918 in the number of people infected and killed.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

You have to hand it to the Republicans, they have a firm understanding of the basic intellectual character than any other group. They are able to spot a moron, recognize an imbecile, find a fool with an adroitness that borders on the incredible. Just look at some of the recent escapades involving members of the GOP and select members of the general public

* Veterans demonstrating the closure of the World War Two memorial were joined by none other than Sen. Ted Cruz who shouted to the crowd " Let me ask a simple question. Why is the federal government spending so much money to keep veterans out of this memorial?". This statement was met by wild applause from the large gathering obviously ignorant of the fact that Mr. Cruz is one of the chief architects of the government shutdown which lead to the closure of said memorial.

* Budding Rhodes Scholar Sara Palin also attended the memorial protest. She chastised the federal government for using American war heroes as "political pawns" drawing a rousing ovation from the demonstrators who again appeared ignorant of the fact that they were indeed at the moment being used as political pawns by Mistress Palin.

I don't know who's worse, these soulless politicians who feed on the ignorance of the foolish and gullible or those foolish and gullible who accept whatever these brigands say without question.

As millions of Muslims have descended on the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia to take part in the Hajj, concern has been growing throughout the medical community that the novel MERS-CoV coronavirus could spread through the tightly packed crowd of pilgrims leading many to return home and spread the virus to many points around the globe.
MERS-CoV is a virus related to SARS that has been brewing inside Saudi Arabia for the past year. It is a ferocious virus with a death rate of close to 60%.Those who survive do so with lingering kidney and lung damage. There is no vaccine or cure for the disease.
What makes this disease even more troubling is the long time between the time one first becomes infected and the onset of symptoms. This lag time could be as much as two weeks. During this time patients may have no symptoms but can possibly infect others, a concern especially relevant in the case of this week's Hajj. Concerns are that these asymptomatic carriers will be able to return back to their countries unsuspected and spread the virus imperceptibly among the population. There are guidelines in place at many airports that screen those returning from the pilgrimage for cough, fever and other signs of infection but will not catch does who, while infected are not currently exhibiting symptoms.
So keep an eye out the next 2-3 weeks for reports of clusters of sickness and death from various locations around the globe. If it's MERS-CoV, the world will have a serious problem on its hands.